Withstanding a strong lobby from the plastic bag industry, the Los
Angeles City Council on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a ban on
single-use plastic bags at checkout counters as well as a 10-cent fee on paper bags.
With a population of 4 million -- and using an estimated 2.7 billion
plastic bags each year -- Los Angeles becomes the largest city in the
U.S. to enact a ban and joins 47 other cities in California alone.

.... The framework includes a six month educational period of the
ordinance where no ban is in place. After that initial six months,
larger stores must phase out single use plastic bags. Twelve months
after adoption of the final ordinance, small stores will also ban these
bags. For paper bags,
retailers will be required to charge 10 cents per bag starting one year
from today. In two years, a study will assess whether to ban outright
paper bags as well. The City Council still needs to approve a final
ordinance, including analyzing the environmental impacts of this policy,
but it is my understanding that this will happen quickly.